Post-game notes, quotes

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTESJanuary 19, 2012 (Game 45, Home Game 21)Madison Square Garden – New York, New York

Team Notes:

– The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 12-4-0 in their last 16 games.

– New York has posted a record of 29-12-4 (62 pts) on the season, including a 14-5-2 mark at home. The Blueshirts maintain a one point lead ahead of Boston for first in the Eastern Conference standings, and rank first in the league with 62 points.

– The Rangers have posted a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 home games. The Blueshirts’ 14-5-2 (30 pts) mark at MSG is their best start at home through 21 games since 1995-96 (16-2-3, 35 pts).

– The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 2-2 (2:37) against the Penguins, and has now held opponents scoreless in 11 of the last 12 games (25-26, 96.2% over the span). New York is 50-55 (90.9%) on the penalty kill with five shorthanded goals in the last 21 contests.

– The Rangers out-hit the Penguins, 38-31, led by Brian Boyle who was credited with a game-high, six hits. The Blueshirts entered tonight’s contest leading the NHL with 1,281 hits on the season.

Player Notes:

– Carl Hagelin notched the Rangers’ lone goal at 10:06 of the second period, registered four shots on goal and logged a career-high, 19:15 of ice time. He has now recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) in the last 12 games.

– Marian Gaborik tallied the primary assist on Hagelin’s second period goal to extend his assist streak to three games. He also registered a game-high, six shots on goal in 20:38 of ice time.

– Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 35 shots, and is now 20-10-4 overall with a 10-5-2 mark at home. It is the 13th time this season Lundqvist has registered 30 or more saves in a game, and he is now 7-5-1 with a 2.13 goals against average, .939 save percentage and one shutout in those contests.

– Ryan McDonagh registered an assist and logged 24:17 of ice time in the contest. He has now recorded five assists in the last 10 games.

– Brad Richards won a game-high, 12-16 faceoffs (75%) in the contest, and he leads the team with a 52.2% faceoff winning percentage (383-734) on the season.

– Dan Girardi was credited with four hits and three blocked shots in 22:57 of ice time.

Post-Game Quotes:

– John Tortorella on the last five games…

“We’re alternating through here. I guess everybody is used to those five game winning streaks, those seven game winning streaks. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a grind through a couple months. I think our players understand that. Again, I don’t think we played poorly tonight. We gathered ourselves and I thought we played really well, but for a space of five minutes, we had some bad reads, some brain-dead reads and a couple struggles with some players. They [Pittsburgh] are that good, that quick and that good, and they beat us.”

– Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game…

“I don’t think we played that bad. It’s all the little details that at the end will be the difference. We have to do everything, if not perfectly, really well to win games. Every night it’s tough to win, especially now when teams come in and expect a tough night. We have to work really hard to get our points. We always have been working hard to get wins – that’s not going to change.”

– Ryan Callahan on responding to the loss…

“I think everyone is still pretty confident in here. You’re going to have stretches throughout the year where you’re going to get some losses, but I think the big thing is how we respond. We have to try to make sure these don’t build up. Throughout the year we’ve responded well after losses, and we have to do the same going into Boston.”

Team Schedule:

– The Blueshirts’ practice schedule for tomorrow, January 20, is 12:00 p.m. at MSG Training Center.

– The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, January 21, at TD Garden (1:00 p.m.), in an Original Six matinee match-up. The game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

Carp – Where were you sitting tonight? I totally forgot that I should have left a message and set up a time beforehand, but I didn’t get there in time to meet you before the game anyway. I’m guessing you were in the press box across from the broadcast booth rather than under it, but I got there late in the second intermission and didn’t wanna bother anybody who was working. :)

I was on TV behind Al and Dave during the first intermission though. I was wearing the yellow jacket, on the left. Nice friend of my dad’s that came through with a couple of his season tickets for us.

Yeah, the Rangers didn’t want Hitchcock when he was begging to be their coach. They didn’t want Tortorella the first time around.

Spider, the new box is above Sect. 110-111. Not a good place for a visit, though, especially since my seat’s pretty far in. … so next time, drop me a note. We can meet during warmups or maybe first intermission.

I think Quennville had the same effect on the Hawks when they fired Savard. Same with Laviolette and the Flyers.

But, they weren’t as dominating as the Blues. Halak and Pietrangelo had horrible starts to the season, but they’ve been a lot better as of late. Pietrangelo is on an eight game point streak. Just scored the game winner against the Oilers tonight.

Speaking of, I’m wondering if Renney is on the hot seat. Oilers look like they’re in for another top three pick. Not the worst thing in the world, if they pick up another Hall/Eberle/Nuge type player.

Quenneville makes me laugh when I see him behind the bench, especially when an official makes a “bad” call against his team – he looks like he just walked in on his wife and teenage daughters having a “party” with the Harlem Globetrotters! The looks he gets on his mug are legendary!

Carp – Darn, I was looking around since I know the main one used to be down in that area but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a press box. Can’t believe I forgot to post here, it was a long day. Lucky enough to have seats with access to Delta 360 Club and all-you-can-eat. Wish I would have got there sooner. Don’t let them make a profit!

Yeah Jimbo, I missed that Devils game completely, I was just checking some box scores… of course they lose, and at home.

I didn’t think tonight’s game was so terrible. We caught a hot Penguins team and there were a few close plays that we didn’t catch a break on. Our guys were hand-cuffed a few times too… just a little off or awkward enough where they couldn’t finish…

Rangers are still a team that needs some breaks to win. Feds narrowly missed the net on a tip I think, Gabby was out of position down low and couldn’t convert a backhand, Stepan was hand-cuffed at one point and didn’t get it off…

There were also a fair amount of penalties that were not called on the Pens – they interfered quite a bit tonight, and got away with it – and Richards looked like he was given a half a slewfoot by Cooke, but no call at all….

Of course, with the NYR power play, all the penalties in the world won’t help us if they can’t score and take advantage…

Jumbo – that is the challenge for this team – can they still generate offense as the refs begin to swallow their whistles and do not call the obvious interference. Teams like the Loafs are struggling with the “new” officiating.

Like the first line but Torts should consider keeping Dubi with B Rich and Cally and let them get in a groove.

I will say this, I thought the rangers should have played a bit more chippy after the first period.

I thought hagelin and bickel played well (well bickel played well the four shifts he got or what ever it actually was)!

Staal was really bad IMHO this game.

The one thing in the game that really irritated me was michael Busto sliding on the ice instead of blasting malkin with a body check right before malkin scored his first goal. If he knocks him on his aasen, he doesn’t score (or probably doesn’t anyhow)!!!

I’m new around here and haven’t gotten too much into submitting comments. I’ve been reading your blog daily since the beginning of the ’12 Season, and I must say, I can’t open Mozilla without immediately checking your blog. It’s to the point where I have created a bookmark for your page; Only two other sites have made it into my bookmark collection: Facebook and Twitter. You are an excellent writer and I really enjoy all of your posts. I too am someone that enjoys writing, and your work inspires me. Perhaps I’ll start commenting more often.

I don’t think the Rangers played that badly either but they had some big turnovers and the Pensys capitalized (Staal knows what he did was wrong FWIW). They lost the puck possession game when they needed to turn up the tempo. %^#@burgh brought it gotta give it to them. Letang looks like he hasn’t missed a beat. Ironic as soon as Letang went down Pittsburgh started losing. Well it’s not because he’s more important to that team THIS SEASON than Crysob.

Gotta feel good about Hagelin still. 5hole was the only way to go with that angle and he knew what to do with the puck as soon as Gabbo made that sweet pass to the tape on his stick.

Jesus Malkin’s backhand over Henrik’s glove looked like a twisted wrister. He’s a dirty brat and I don’t like him but he’s damn good.

Were the NHL Network announcers the Penguins cast by any chance? Granted it was bad but I’ve heard much worse! It sounded like they were almost trying not to beat their chests when the Pens scored. DUBINSKY PUNCHES MALKIN LOL

Tortorella knows what buttons to push and when. Summary: you get used to winning 5, 6, 7 in a row and now you’re swapping blows win for a loss. No need to panic. You just get so used to these wins then after 1 loss beaten handily, it’s like going to a movie you THINK is going to be awesome, but sucks and you can tell half way through, but you have to watch it! Or something.

This team will get through this and Boston had better bring it. Matchup of the best backup goaltenders in the league? ONLY TIME WILL TELL!